U.S. Naval Weapons Lab Cancels Recruiting Date; Students Not Interested

The United States Naval Weapons Laboratory will not recruit at Harvard next week because no students have signed up to meet with the recruiter.

The Weapons Lab canceled its February 11 appointment with the Office of Graduate and Career Plans (OG and CP) Tuesday afternoon, John B. Fox Jr., director of the OG and CP, said yesterday.

The Lab has not recruited at Harvard since 1967, Fox said. For the last three years no students have signed up, and each year the Lab has canceled its appointment a week before it was scheduled to recruit.

"Since there were no students interested we canceled for this year," Olie Smith, Weapons Lab recruiter, said last night "But we plan to come again-we have a fine relationship with the placement office."

The Lab canceled its appointment Tuesday afternoon-before the November Action Committee (NAC) voted to demonstrate against the recruiter. NAC members Tuesday night called his presence "a deliberate act of provocation" by the University.

"I don't know of any problem with the students at Harvard," Smith said "We just felt that we're not getting any response. We've talked to plenty, but we haven't been able to entice them to our rural area of Virginia."

The sign-up list for students interested in meeting with the Naval recruiter had been up for two weeks without getting any response. Fox said. Tuesday the OG and CP called the Naval Weapons Lab and explained the situation.

No One Signed

"The person who called said that no one had signed and that it wasn't likely that anyone would sign up," Smith said "So we decided not to come,"

Such cancellation's are not uncommon. Fox said. General Electric canceled its appointment several weeks ago-according to Fox, because of the strike and a downturn in business G. E. could not afford to hire anyone this year.

"It's too bad they had the meeting last night," Fox said of the NAC. NAC had said that they would attack the Navy recruitment as "part of American imperialism."

"We feel that Harvard has the caliber of student that we want to contact," Smith said. "But those people go off to graduate schools-and there are plenty of jobs hollering for Harvard students."